Is there anywhere Kyle Larson isn’t the best or one of the best?

Sunday’s win at Sonoma was Kyle’s fifth career road-course win and the fifth in his last 16 road-course starts.

Before coming to Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, he was rarely a threat away from ovals, but now he’s obviously a threat everywhere … EXCEPT, it seems, the superspeedways at Daytona and Talladega, where he’s a combined 0-for-39.

His average Daytona/Talladega finish of 22.4 is his worst, by far, of any type of track where NASCAR regularly races.

This week brings short-track racin’ at Iowa, and guess what. In nine of his past 10 shorties, Kyle has finished sixth or better, with two wins.

SPEED FREAKS NASCAR goes to Iowa and who's scared? No more Fox and no more Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Did Dale Earnhardt Jr. really end speculation about possibly buying a Cup team?

Kinda. Junior definitely seems to have ended talk about spending between $20-30 million for a Cup Series charter.

But he’s still holding the door open for a potential team-owning partnership that doesn’t require such a monumental expenditure (aren’t we all?). “We’re always open to hearing what someone thinks about our idea of a partnership,” he said last week.

Plenty of onlookers seem comfortable with Junior’s current role within the sport. Even though he will no longer be part of NBC’s upcoming coverage, he’s still vocal through his weekly podcast and through social media, and his voice carries weight.

It would be great to see him atop a pit box someday in the future, but he’ll be a NASCAR fixture with or without a headset and officially licensed ballcap.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Kyle Larson still stinks at 2 tracks; Dale Earnhardt Jr. saving money